isn't a silent population dangerous? where will it hide the burden of its choice?

Jose Craveirinha, Mozambican poet

Greetings,

A couple of years ago the Prince Claus Fund withdrew their support/sponsorship for the Cuban biennale because one of the performing groups was victimised by the Cuban government.

At the 2005 Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF) Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) were intimidated and harassed. In the face of this harassment and even when GALZ staff members appealed for help and protection, the ZIBF failed to support them.

It takes an enormous amount of courage and resilience to publicly advocate, as GALZ does. Instead of this courage being rewarded and acknowledged, the organisers of the ZIBF chose to either ignore the victimisation, or be complicit in it.

As yet I have not seen a statement from the ZIBF condemning this incident. The GALZ statement detailing it is available on the Kubatana web site.

Arts, music and literature is always a fertile arena for the exploration of a variety of issues, sexuality included. It appears that in line with the increasing repression in Zimbabwe, the ZIBF is positioning itself accordingly.

Personally, I don't believe that their stance should be supported or rewarded.

Let the ZIBF become a government sponsored event because it appears it is already government controlled.

Instead of being complicit in this charade of so-called openness and freedom, let us withdraw our support.

Best wishes,
Bev Clark

The Kubatana Trust of Zimbabwe and
The NGO Network Alliance Project
PO Box GD 376
Greendale
Harare
Zimbabwe

Telephone/Fax: +263-4-776008
Email: admin@kubatana.org.zw
Website: www.kubatana.net